REV. MAGDALENA GARCIA: Latina pastor keeps door wide open

It would seem only fitting for Rev. Magdalena Garcia, an award-winner for her commitment to multiculturalism and inclusion, to lead what's known as the Church of the Open Door.

Garcia said she has no idea how or when Ravenswood Presbyterian Church, founded on the North Side in 1902, got its moniker. It might have been in 1968, when the church first welcomed a Hispanic fellowship; it later evolved into a fully bilingual English and Spanish congregation.

But church members say that since taking the helm in 2003, Garcia has challenged every conceivable tradition in order to open that door a little wider.

"What does it mean to be the Church of the Open Door now?" Garcia said in a recent interview.

"Clearly, to be an urban congregation . . . it means the church needs to open its doors to the gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender community."

She also believes it means questioning racism, sexism and the role of illegal immigrants in America.

Garcia was one of three pastors nationally to receive a Women of Faith Award on Sunday from the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. She accepted the honor at the 218th general assembly of the church in San Jose, Calif.

"These are amazing women following God's call, transforming society and the church through their work," said Cynthia Joe, head of the awards selection committee.

Garcia, 50, was nominated by her colleagues at the Hispanic Latin Presbyterian Women organization, which she helped found in 1995. Since then, she has served as a preacher, a keynote speaker, a worship leader and writer with the group. Garcia has also served as pastor, speaker and adjunct faculty member within other organizations and has been a former newspaper editor.

She's a wife and mother, activist and feminist—although Garcia prefers the term mujerista, which translates from Spanish roughly as "womanist."

She preaches in two languages to a diverse congregation of about 110, said church member Ofelia M. Uribe. Garcia is a uniting force, but "when you get off the pulpit and you walk down the aisle and you dress in African garb," as Garcia does, you're bound to ruffle some feathers, Uribe said.

That's never been a concern for Garcia, said Yolanda Hernandez, a volunteer consultant with the Hispanic women's organization.

The group asked Garcia to write a book explaining mujerista theology, a new style of Hispanic feminist theology.

When it was released in 2001, many of the organization's members worried it would offend the traditional machismo embedded in Hispanic culture.

"We knew they were going to really be upset about it," Hernandez said. "Magdalena is saying that we have the same rights [men] do. Biblically, she's proving that we have the same value as a person, as a worker, as a pastor."

"Like it or not, she said the truth," said Cecilia Casal, national moderator for the Hispanic women's organization. "Controversial or not, she said the truth."

At first, the book did cause some conflict, Garcia said. Then it caught on, and she soon got word seminaries in Latin America were using it to hold discussions on feminism.

A member of the Presbyterian multicultural church committee in Chicago, Garcia is constantly coming up with new ways to broaden the cultural horizons of her church at 4300 N. Hermitage Ave., members say.

In 2004, Garcia invited a black man to preach at her English church service—attended largely by older white members—challenging the common notion that Sunday mornings can be the most segregated time in the country.

That man was Rev. Craig Howard, now senior development officer at McCormick Theological Seminary, who served at Ravenswood for 9 months while pursuing his Presbyterian ordination through the Presbytery of Chicago.

"She was challenging them, saying, 'Hey, here is an energetic . . . younger African-American male,' instead of her presence as a Latina woman, and I think that contrast was interesting," Howard said.

Her work is far from done, Garcia said when she accepted her award.

But there's one concept she'll push harder than all the rest.

"You cannot claim really to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not embrace your neighbor," Garcia said Tuesday.

"It's as simple as that. If you neighbor has changed, guess what? Your ministry needs to change."

The other Women of Faith winners were Rev. Ann L. Hayman, founder and director of development of the Mary Magdalene Project in Southern California; and Theodora Jackson, founder of the Jamaica Service Project in Queens, N.Y.